I sat for a time in the ruined office building, simply staring at Nayla's childlike skeleton. According to what she'd said, she'd likely pop up somewhere else in the underworld. I couldn't help but feel terrible, considering I had basically murdered a cold and lonely child. Still, the storm raged on outside, and I couldn't move on till it passed.

I hadn't eaten in a while, so I decided to root around and see what I could find. First thing I did was go to 'Mr.Banks'. If I was a kid and had something important, where would I keep it? In the safe of course. That is if she ever knew the combination in the first place. I picked up the heavy metal square and shook, finding to my disappointment that no sound came from within. Nothing loose to shake or rattle around.

"Empty."

Next, I moved on to 'Reggie' the register, popping the drawer open easily to find that each of the individual sections meant to hold money were filled with assorted candies. Covered in sand, but still in their plastic wrappers, I quickly opened the various packages of Maynards, Skittles, and Mike and Ike, devouring them all quickly to avoid the the likely stale flavour. It wasn't bad, but not nearly enough to fill me, considering my lion sized appetite, and it smacked around against the ruby in my gut, something I had almost forgotten about. Should probably take care of that.

"Volare." Centering my focus on the gem inside my stomach, I poured what magic I could into it, then levitated it up into my esophagus. Given the amount of magic I put into it, I should have easily been able to completely remove it from my body in this fashion, but instead the spell cut out when it was halfway up my throat. To avoid choking on it, I clutched at my throat with my claws and pushed up, worked against the natural swallowing action, forcing it back up into my mouth before I spat out the bile covered rock.

It was rather unexpected, having my magic fail me at that moment. Perhaps the underworld has some kind of... magic suppressant? Still, I managed to get the job done, though I was left gasping for air for quite some time. I shook my head miserably. How had it come to this? Raiding an abandoned city for scraps of food and performing an impromptu stomach pump on myself, I should be aboard the ship with my friends, on our way back home. I guess I just wasn't expecting it. For the first time since I had arrived in Equestria, I lost. Even against Ember, I suppose it could be called a stalemate, and the thing with Ivan was an absolute clusterfuck so who knows what even happened, but here, I lost. I may have gotten Gilda and the rest out, but Trixie and Geirmund are dead, the tribe cats are dead, and I'm still alive, but trapped in the underworld. I wasn't good enough, I couldn't do it on my own...

... and that pisses me the hell off because I knew I couldn't, and that's why I asked Celestia for help in the first place! She turned me down because 'it was too risky' or some shit. She she had been there, if I had just a little more help, then they'd still be alive, and I'd be back home. Damnit!

*Sigh*

No point dwelling on it. I just need to get through the city and out of this desert.

After what felt like hours, the storm finally passed. The broken window I had previously used to enter was totally buried in the sand, so I took to ramming my shoulder into another, time and time again failing to break through. Well, until Mr. Banks stepped up to the plate. After a couple attempts at using the steel box as a battering ram, the window smashed open. Again using the safe, I broke all the shards that were still in place so I wouldn't cut myself again, and headed out into the metropolis.

Now that the air had cleared, I had an opportunity to look around and try to find out exactly where I was. There were street names that matched roads, signs for a subway buried in sand, and markers for off ramps that were missing their highway. It's as though someone had simply scooped the city off the face of the planet, then dumped it here haphazardly. Plenty more buildings had fallen on their sides, others had simply crumbled into heaping piles of rubble, and a few, very few, were still standing, although slanted and crooked, with broken glass and half hinged doors. The sea of desolation was an appropriate name, considering just how strong of an 'abandoned' vibe the place gave off.

I decided to climb one of the still standing towers, your typical box skyscraper, which although slanted, would let me get a good view from high up, and maybe plan a route through the city. Though Nayla said she was the only one around, after my encounter with her, I didn't want to take any chances. She was alone and a child, if I came across a group of adults, I don't know if I could manage, not without my sword anyway.

Hades, the name of the weapon I used to take so many lives, and the name of the only person who could get me back to the living world. I know there's some kind of irony in that, but I couldn't bring myself to care. There were more important things to worry about, and going off on a tangent wouldn't help me at all.

Reaching the top of the tower, I looked towards the stormy castle, where I saw dark, shadowy figures circling in the sky. Demons, probably. On occasion, a flock of them would swoop down to one area or another, though from this distance, I couldn't see where. Closer, on the outskirts of the city, was a great line of electrical towers leading out. Many of them were downed, their wires dangling to and fro carelessly. Exceedingly close to that was the other landmark of importance. A river.

Nayla told me that the different areas of the underworld were separated by rivers. This place was a 'lesser hell' which meant that whatever was on the other side was either a 'greater hell' or purgatory. It wouldn't be paradise, because that would be guarded, and this was very open, and it wouldn't be tartarus, because if I remember my mythology, that's 'as far beneath the underworld as the earth is beneath the sky', probably a giant pit somewhere. I hope it's just purgatory, because the sea of desolation is only a lesser hell, and this place sucks. Not eager to see what a proper place of punishment is like.

That just leaves crossing the river. I don't know all the rivers of the underworld, just the Styx, the Acheron which I fell in, and the.... burning one that starts with phlegm or something, phlogistan, phlogistinator, whatever. It's on fire, I'll know it when I see it. As for crossing it, apparently you could only do that if you can fly, or you've got the ferryman. Well, I don't have any money on me, and I doubt I'll meet Charon here, so I may have to find another way across. I can worry about that when I get there though.

The walk through the town was uneventful. I stopped in a bakery to try and find something to eat, but of course nobody was there, and the shelves were cleared. I had better luck at a supermarket, which had some boxes of stale Cheerios, withering away in a corner. It was bland and tasteless, but it was at the very least edible, and it meant I'd be able to keep going for a while. I found some torn cloth bags, you know, the whole 'go green' ones, and put a few inside one another so whatever I put inside wouldn't fall through. I loaded them up with some jars of honey and bags of marshmallows, since sugar is full of calories and never actually goes bad. Sure, it can get stale, but you just heat it up or water it down and it's good again.

After several more hours of slow, tedious walking through the bleak cityscape, I reached the edge, and for the first time since I had left Equestria, I saw grass. It was brown and dying, but not quite dead yet, by the way it bounced back when I stepped on it. My claws and paws were killing me from all the walking I had been doing, so I took a moment to just lay down and relax, stretch out and take some pressure off my legs. I took a bit of a rest back in the ruined office building while I waited for the storm to pass, but I couldn't get to sleep. In fact, I hadn't slept much since I was captured at Ancientwell. I could probably spare a couple hours for...

No, that would have to wait till I discovered just what was on the other side of the river. If it's a greater hell, I may have to go through it, so I'd rest on this side. If it was purgatory, I'd cross and then rest. Considering that the nearer I get to the river, the healthier the grass seems to become, I'd wager that whatever is on the other side is better than what's here.

As I approached, my preconceptions were justified as the grass started turning greener and looking healthier, becoming soft and lush. Definitely more pleasant to walk on than sand, stone, or cracked dirt.

Finally, as I reached the river's edge, I noticed one of the towers that supported the high tension power lines was tilted at about a 45 degree angle, as it's base had half eroded out from underneath it. It jutted out over the river, and one of the cables hung from it, spooled up on my side. There was also some kind of hut built into the tower's base, using bits of sheet metal welded on for walls. It had a makeshift chimney that occasionally putted out a little cloud of smoke.

That meant the owner was home.

Considering my last encounter with a person down here, I wasn't all that enthusiastic about coming in contact with another one, though this one could be of use. For one, whoever it was had to be sentient, unlike those hungry dead out in the desert, as they managed to put a hut together using tools, secondly, they also had to have fire. Part of the reason Nayla went nuts is because I was warm, and the geezer told me he was fine because he had a hot sandwich, so that means whoever is inside might be okay.

I had to risk it. It only looks like there's room for one, so if it comes to a fight, I should be able to handle it, unless the occupant is armed. Taking a deep breath, I walked up, and knocked on the door.

"Huh? Wha? Hold on a minuite." Came the voice from within. Definitely male, sounds like in his late twenties to early thirties, if age means anything in this place. No accent I could pick up, and groggy. What opened the door was exactly that. A man with mildly tanned skin, with greasy black hair and a short stubble. He was wearing a stained white muscle shirt, torn and faded denim jeans, with a welder's face mask flipped up, and a cigarette in his mouth, which appeared to be freshly lit. "What the fuck?"

"Uh.. hello?" I offered.

"Holy shit it talks!" The man stumbled back into the little home, stepping on a small fire in the act. "Ah shit!" He patted his leg down as it caught ablaze, trying to save what was probably his only pair of pants. He managed it, then collapsed back into a cheap metal folding chair, let out a deep breath, then began again.

"Sorry bout that man. Uh... it is man right?"

"Yeah, I'm a dude." I replied awkwardly.

"Uh, yeah, sorry about that, uh, what are you supposed to be exactly?"

"I'm a griffin, you know, from mythology? Just... call me Grif."

"Ah, geez, I'm bein rude aren't I. Sorry. Uh, come on in. Warm yourself by the fire... oh crap the fire!" The still unnamed man darted back to his little flame, surrounded by a metal ring, and started blowing on it while tossing some dead looking black twigs into the pit, trying to bring his fire back to life. Eventually he succeeded, while I had come in and taken a spot over by the wall.

"Um.. thanks. I'm just glad you didn't try to kill me."

"Oh come on, I'm not that scary am I?" He smiled weakly, showing his teeth stained yellow and black from tobacco. "Names Craig by the way. Nice to meet you. Uh, sorry about the mess. I know it ain't much, but it's home. Uh... what are you staring at?"

"... are you Canadian?"

"How'd ya guess? It's cuz I'm apologizing all the time, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah. You're awfully polite, especially considering we're... well, we're in hell."

"Aw, it's not all that bad here." He smirked with his reply.

"No... I literally mean we're in the underworld. That city over there, off in the distance," I motioned where I came from. " is full of these zombie things, and there are sand storms that strip the flesh off you like locusts. We're literally in hell. Well.... lesser hell."

"Oh, I know that, I'm just saying it ain't all that bad here. Could be a lot worse. We could be in Africa. That would suck. So, what are you doing down here anyways? I died from lung cancer. After all that time my ma spent telling me not to be a mechanic cuz of the exhaust and paint fumes, it was the smokes that got me. Kinda wish I treated her better, and not just because I wound up here."

"Well, I'm not dead. I got thrown down a well, met some geezer who told me to go to the castle and get Hades to send me back up, but to do that I've gotta get there, which means crossing this river. Any way you can think of to help me get across?"

"Hehe..." He got a clever, devious smirk. "I was hoping you might ask. You've seen how this tower is leaning over the river right? And how the wires are all dangling down? As you might imagine, I've been here a while, and I started getting ideas and what not about going to the other side. Then, well, I started thinking it's not to bad right where I am. I mean, this is a 'lesser hell' right? Who knows what's on the other side? I found some old tools and fixed em up, made myself a little welding shack here and started building a dingy. By the time I got it done and was all ready to go across, I chickened out."

"Well, I do know what's on the other side. As I got closer to here, the ground turned from sand to dirt, and the closer I got, the healthier the grass became. I'll bet that whatever is over there is better than what's back in that city."

"Well, when you find out, make sure to tell me. I'd rather not take any chances." He take me a quick two finger salute, then laid down on a cot and folded the welding mask back over his eyes.

"Wait, you're gonna let me use your boat? Why?" I asked.

"Well heck, it's not like I'm gonna use it. Besides, if I do decide I wanna cross, I've got plenty of scrap here, I can just make another one."

"Craig... I don't know what to say. Thanks man. You're pretty cool."

"Aww geez, there you go, making this all sappy. You know how to row a boat right?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Well, I'll see you around, or maybe not. Whichever. Good luck to you though. And keep an eye out, other folk around here are downright crazy."

"Yeah, have a good one."

I went out back of the tower hut shack thing and found a shoddy metal boat floating on the river, all nicely tied to a post with power cables. I hopped in and unwound the mooring line, grabbed the cut metal oars, and started rowing. After I made it about halfway across, the strangest thing happened. Looking over the side, I watched as the surface of the water twisted and turned, as though it were trying to form a shape. Finally, a human face rose, gulped in a huge bubble of air, and let out an ear piercing howl.

"Oh hell! RRRRGGG." I covered my ears in pain as more faces appeared, each letting out a different, yet equally terrible wail. I collapsed in the bottom of the boat, thrashing about in pain, clutching the sides of my head to try and block out the unrelenting noise when suddenly I noticed some movement in the sky. Looking up, I saw all the flocks of demons that had been circling the castle had stopped, and began flying towards me.

"Fuck, fuck, I gotta get out of here before they arrive." I couldn't even hear the words I spoke to myself over the drone of the voices from the river. "Shit, will you shut the fuck up!" I grabbed the oar and smacked the nearest water face in the... face, silencing it. "Crap... gotta try..." Pressing my wing against my head to cover it and muffle the sound, I took one oar in both arms and began rowing by jamming the thing into one of the screaming faces below with each stroke, trying to silence them. With each stroke, I moved closer to the far side of the river, my destination, which the demons on the horizon were still a long ways off.

"Please, for the love of whatever gods are listening, make this river shut up!" I cried to the heavens when suddenly, all was quiet. The river became still, and all the faces receded. The flock that had been nearing returned to what it was doing before, circling the castle. "What? I.... thank you?" I looked around in amazement to find I had already reached the other side of the river.

"Okay, if that's not divine intervention, I don't know what is." I climbed from the boat onto the shore, mooring it to a large rock. Looking at the castle, it seemed much bigger than before, meaning I was that much closer to achieving my goal, especially since apparently, someone was looking out for me. That, at least, brought me some peace of mind in this wretched place. The fact that I had escaped from the 'lesser hells' also calmed my nerves. There were plants and trees and bushes on this side, though wilted, I was confident that the further I traveled, the better it would get.

Author's Notes:

I climbed from the boat, mooring it to a large rock. When I turned around, I walked face first into a shitty wooden fishing shack on the sand, by the edge of the river.

"Dagummit! I thought I told you ta git!"

Naw. Thought about it, but no.